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THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

FOR THE 

RURAL SCHOOLS 



ARTHUR E. BENNETT, A. M , Pd. d 
'I 
Dean of the School of Education 

Upper Iowa University 

Fayette 



Prepared for the Educational Council 
of the Iowa State Teachers' Asso- 
ciation, November 3 to 5, 1910 

DES MOINES, IOWA 







<\ D 



'" 



The Training of Teachers for Rural Schools 

ARTHUR E. BENNETT, A. M., PD. D 

The rural school problem is the greatest question among educa- 
tional leaders of all countries at the present time. It is the problem 
par excellence in America and appeals with peculiar forcefulness to 
the people of those states where agriculture is the main industry. 
Briefly it is this: How can the rural school contribute to the welfare 
of the state proportionate to the demands which the state makes 
upon it? What kind of school plant and equipment is necessary for 
its efficiency? How can its course of study revitalize and redirect 
its energies? How may the instruction be earned on so that country 
life may be idealized, new standards of efficiency and of happiness be 
placed before its constituency and the mainstay of our industrial 
system be conserved? How may the schools be unified, graded and 
properly supervised? And last of all but the greatest of all is the 
question of the spirit, the training, the tenure and the numerical 
adequacy of its teachers. 

IN OTHER COUNTRIES. 

England. In England, agricultural colleges and the university 
departments furnish the Head Masters and the Training of Science 
Masters for rural pupil-teacher centers, where teachers-inthe-mak- 
ing puisue a two year course in science, manual arts and methods, 
after completing the work of the rural secondary school. Many of 
the training colleges maintain courses peculiarly adapted to the 
needs of rural education. Mr. Symonds' report to the Board of 
Education for 1908, states that since the Local Taxation Act of 
1890, much has been done by many of the county councils to afford 



teachers of rural schools the opportunity of training in rural sub- 
jects. He recommends the establishment of summer schools of rural 
science for the training of teachers in the application of science to 
rural life and occupation. 

New South Wales. Mr. Board, the Director of Education for 
New South Wales, says: "Students in the Teachers' College in this 
state during their first year have practice in teaching and for the 
purpose of their practical training in the management of small 
schools, spend a portion of their time at a specially conducted and 
equipped school under one teacher for observation work. This school 
is situated in one of the near suburbs of Sidney and the teacher in 
charge has been selected on account of his efficiency in the organ- 
ization and management of a one-teacher school." 

Canada. The McDonald movement in Canada has aroused a new 
interest in rural education and its possibilities in relation to farm 
industries. Ontario provides special teachers' training courses in 
elementary agriculture, horticulture and industrial arts in the Agri- 
cultural College at Guelph. Special courses are offered in the Nor- 
mal and Model schools. Special grants of from 1200 to $750 are 
given to country and village schools maintaining household and man- 
ual training, under regulations of the Minister of Education. Model 
Schools are maintained at Cornwall, Durham, Kingston, Lindsay, 
Renfrew and North Kay. Teachers in Manitoba, in the non-profes- 
sional or third class grade, must pass an examination in agriculture 
and elementary science. 

IN OUR OWN COUNTRY. 

Only two states in our own country claim to have means adequate 
to meet the demands for rural school training. These two are Rhode 
Island which has but one hundred and eighty-two ungraded schools, 
and California, where the normal schools and colleges furnish the 
necessary supply- 

The normal schools and colleges of the several states cannot 
meet the demands of the urban schools for supervision and for 
special and grade teachers. Agricultural colleges are offering 
courses for those who wish to specialize in the teaching of farm and 
home economics and the extension work, as carried on in our own 
state, is arousing public sentimant in favor of better rural schools. 

■ 
■ 



Teachers' institutes of from one to four weeks have long been used 
as promoters of teaching efficiency; but the shortness of the session 
and the academic character of the work limit their effectiveness. 
Some of the most recent methods of attacking this problem are 
worthy of our attention. 

MODEL RURAL SCHOOLS AND RURAL SCHOOL EXTENSION. 

State of Washington. Mr. Showalter, who has charge of the 
department of rural schools of the State Normal School of Washing- 
ton located at Cheney, is inaugurating a rural i-chool revival by two 
methods. First, a model rural school within reach of the state 
normal school cadets, and second, rural school extension work. The 
following excerpt from a letter is of interest: 

"Our Rural Training School is three miles in the country, and has 
all of the environments of typical rural schools. The children come 
from the neighboring homes and our work is organized under the 
same conditions that are required throughout the county and state. 
It is our aim to demonstrate just what improvements are possible to 
be made through proper organization, management and supervision. 
Through correlation and alternation, we reduce the number of recita- 
tions daily to a minimum and introduce into the curriculum Manual 
Training, Agriculture and Horticulture. 

"It is our aim not only to train teachers well for this work, but to 
give them a natural adaptability for rural life and needs. Through 
our Directors' Meeting, we will also accomplish a strong co-operative 
spirit and a willingness to meet the demands for additional salary 
required for prepared teachers. 

"Our Rural School extension work consists of demonstration and 
observation schools established in the different counties of eastern 
Washington for the purpose of giving an opportunity for teachers 
and directors to see the actual work in progress. This is done by 
and with the co-operation of the County Superintendent, and the 
Normal works jointly with him in giving out policies and plans. 

"This year we have a large number of teachers who have chosen 
this work because of the attractive salaries offered, and the spirit 
and enthusiasm of the people in promoting its interests Demon- 
stration meetings and evening programs seem to have been very 
helpful to the patrons of the community, and we believe that through 



this means that we shall be able to work out our plans quite com- 
pletely an i to obtain the results which we hope for in the re-organ- 
ization of the country school." 

The plan of conducting a model rural school in the vicinity of the 
normal school with special courses to meet the needs of country life 
is followed also by the Missouri State Normal at Kirksville, the Ne- 
braska State Normal at Kearney, the Central State Normal of Mich- 
igan, the Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute, and the State Normal 
School at North Adams, Mass. 

NORMAL TRAINING IN HIGH SCHOOLS. 

In Nebraska. In 1907 Nebraska passed a law for the purpose of 
giving normal training in approved high schools. The state super- 
intendent prescribes the conditions, the course of instruction and the 
rules and regulations under the following limitations: The high 
school must be fully accredited, the normal training must be in the 
eleventh and twelfth grades, and the schools must have good library 
and laboratory facilities. The course of study includes an extensive 
review of the common school branches with special reference to the 
methods of teaching them, with at least seventy-two periods in pro- 
fessional training and one semester in American History. Agricul- 
ture is required and to secure the state aid a class of at least ten 
must be enrolled. The schools offering this elective work and secur- 
ing the approval of the state department get $500 direct aid. 

About 100 high schools are now maintaining these courses and 
State Superintendent Bishop says that the work done by these schools 
has been satisfactory in the extreme. President Thomas of the 
Nebraska State Normal School at Kearney commends these schools 
as follows: "Most of the country schools are now supplied by 
students from the high schools. There are probably 2000 stu- 
dents in these normal training classes and most of them take up 
the work of teaching in the country" 

In Minnesota. A similar law has been passed by the State of 
Minnesota and twenty-seven high schools were approved last year, 
each receiving $750 from the state. A special normal instructor 
must be employed. At the end of the course, the grades made in 
high school are certified to by the principal or superintendent and a 



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first or second grade certificate is issued to the graduate. Superin- 
tendent Schultz reports that other schools are applying for the state 
aid and that great reliance is being placed upon them for the train- 
ing of rural school teachers. 

In Kansas. The last legislature of the State of Kansas passed a 
bill giving state aid to high schools and academies maintaining nor- 
mal training courses. Their number is limited by a $50,000 annual 
appropriation; to local needs; and to their abilitv to maintain a fully 
accredited standing. Each school receives $500 direct state aid 
denominational academies excepted. The State Board conducts exami- 
nations in May of each year and issues certificates to successful can- 
didates valid for two years, renewable at the end of that time, and 
operative in any county of the state. 

Michigan and New York. Plans similar to the ones already 
enumerated whereby normal training is maintained in high schools 
are in operation in Michigan and in New York. The latter state was 
the first to inaugurate the plan which was adopted seventy-three 
years ago. At present there are about one hundred of these classes 
Each of these furnish from ten to twenty- five teachers a year to her 
rural schools. Over one-third of all rural school eachers in the 
state are holders of training class licenses to teach. 

COUNTY TEACHERS' TRAINING SCHOOLS. 

Wisconsin has adopted a plan whereby any county, wherein no 
normal is located, may establish a training school for teachers for the 
common schools. They are limited to twenty-six in number, twenty 
counties having already qualified under its provisions. 

A board of three members is created, one of whom is the county 
superintendent of schools. Two-thirds of the amount expended for 
the maintenance of the school is paid by the state, not to exceed, 
however, thirty-five hundred dollars in any one school year. After 
completing the work of these training schools the graduate receives 
a third grade certificate good for two years. The length of the 
courses vary as to the age and strength of the school. Agriculture 
and manual arts are taught therein. 

Superintendent Carey in his address before the Wisconsin State 
Teachers' Association in November, 1907, says that the county 
teachers' training school is the most effective plan for preparing 



rural teachers which has yet been adopted in this country. It is do- 
ing much to arouse a better educational sentiment among the coun- 
try people. It is effective because it is a separate institution, 
thereby dignifying it and the profession of teaching, and the teacher 
training is not a side issue as in high schools maintaining normal 
classes. It takes country boys and girls who know country condi- 
tions and who are in sympathy with country life f.nd trains them to 
effectively carry on the work of the rural schools. 

JUNIOR NORMAL AND SUMMER SCHO LS 

Louisiana maintains five state summer schools at strategic centers, 
running for a period of nine weeks each year. They render material 
aid to the training of teachers. A rural school inspector is em- 
ployed to help in directing the work and in suggesting plans for the 
improvement of the country schools. 

Nebraska, besides maintaining three state normal schools and pro- 
viding for normal training in high schools, maintains eight Junior 
Normal Schools at designated centers, for the training of rural 
teachers. These were established by an act of the legislature in 
in 1903 and have enrolled 8152 teachers-in-the-training since their 
organization. Tuition is free. The sessions last for eight weeks, 
all of the expenses thereof being met by the State. Their motto is 
"better trained and better paid teachers for better schools." Spe- 
cial stress is laid upon agriculture, hygiene and the common school 
studies. 

MISCELLANEOUS AIDS 

In various ways our states are attempting to solve the problem of 
greater adequacy and better training for the teachers of the rural 
schools. Illinois has a law admitting one scholarship student from 
each township into one of its normal schools, entitling the holder to 
free tuition and incidental expenses. It is conferred by the county 
superintendent upon the best pupil of the township, usually from the 
rural districts, and is valid for four years. The Western State Nor- 
mal School at Macomb offers a special course for these students. 
Last year about 1000 scholarships were issued. 

The State Department of Minnesota carries on a rural school ex- 
ension work through its teachers' institutes and teachers' and pa- 



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trons' county conventions. The Department sends someone from the 
office, or bears the expenses of someone else whom it may designate, 
to discuss and to outline methods of improvement. 

Missouri validates the grades made in summer schools maintained 
by approved independent colleges, selected by the State Board of 
Education. These grades are accepted in lieu of examination for 
certificates. 

The State Normal School of Colorado offers a special training 
course for rural school teachers in the summer. The State Depart- 
ment issues extension leaflets each month, sending them to the rural 
schools. These bear upon nature study, hygiene, agriculture and 
horticulture. 

CURRICULA. 

Courses of study provided to meet the needs of rural school teach- 
ers vary in length. Training schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin 
accredit schools maintaining two or three years of secondary school 
studies with one year of professional training in addition thereto. 
The Standard training school is one maintaining a full four years' 
course of study, one year of which is given to professional study and 
teacher-training, with an especial stress upon intensive reviews in 
the elementary school studies and upon methods of teaching the 
same. 

Farm and home economics are characteristic studies. Agriculture 
takes the place of botany as ordinarily studied. Hygiene and sanita- 
tion are given prominent places. Practical lessons in soils, animal 
industries and farm problems are substituted for the formal lessons 
in chemistry and zoology as commonly studied. Rural problems and 
life are discussed in such a way as to magnify and idealize country 
life and the possibilities of the country teacher. 

CONDITIONS IN IOWA. 

We have in Iowa 12,640 rural schools. On each September an 
army of about 3000 inexperienced, untrained beginners in teaching 
takes the places of those who have left the state or have changed, 
occupations. The majority of these are not in sympathy with coun- 
try life. They are using the rural school as a means to get an ex- 
perience which will gain them admission into a graded urban school. 



They are unfamiliar with country school needs and of life values, 
and because of this they point students away from the farm. 

Because the urban graded schools demand experienced teachers 
and pay higher wages than the country schools, the successful rural 
teacher, trained at the expense of the rural schools, abandons it for 
a more highly remunerative position. 

Many rural schools are being abandoned, due to local conditions 
which draw pupils from the schools. If all the schools in Iowa hav- 
ing an average daily attendance of six or less were to be closed 
about 850 schools would close their doors. This shows that these 
schools are operating under a low educational tone and interest, and 
at too great an outlay for the cost of operation. Many of our 
counties have not enough teachers to meet their needs, and the ab- 
sorption of these schools thru consolidation would save nearly a 
thousand teachers to the state. 

Little improvement, comparatively, has been made in the char- 
acter of the teaching in the rural schools in the last quarter of 
a century. Most of our attention has been directed toward the high 
schools and their accreditation. Their needs and the questions 
of college admission requirements have occupied the attention of 
schoolmen to the exclusion of the rural school and its problems. 

Our state institutions and our accredited colleges cannot meet the 
demands made upon them by the city and town schools for profes- 
sionally trained teachers. Our present needs for the graded schools 
alone, would require a normal school in each of the four corners of 
the state and still the rural school teacher problem would remain. 

IOWA'S NEEDS. 

Iowa needs the unification and wholesome correlation of all its 
educational forces; the conservation of all of the inherited elements 
of strength which past experience has given, and united effort in a 
forward movement for the most immediate and deserving object of 
our endeavor. These ends should be directed through a wise, unself- 
ish and progressive State Department leadership which would take 
into consideration the needs of all our schools and put forth supreme 
effort to strengthen the most deserving point in our whole educa- 
tional system — our rural schools. To meet these demands, the De- 



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partment should be supplied with better salaries and with means to 
■carry on a rural school revival thru systematic extension work. 

A movement for an increased interest in che work of our rural 
schools should be inaugurated. Without an intelligent understand- 
ing of its needs and an interest in its work among the common peo- 
ple, its patronage will be half-hearted and its work inferior. In 
other words, we should have a rural school campaign, a system of 
rural educational chautauquas to educate the people to an under- 
standing of their own needs. There should be a stronger educa- 
tioivil sentiment in our rural communities. And this awaken- 
ing should enlist the enthusiastic co-operation of all classes of 
educational workers in our commonwealth. Without this unified, 
earnest endeavor, we cannot make the people believe in the possibili- 
ties of rural education. 

The first concern of our state should be the improvement of her 
rural schools. They should have a course of study especially suited 
to their needs containing courses in farm and home economics. They 
need better equipment, better salaries for their teachers, better 
libraries and consolidation where advisable. They should have con- 
solidated grammar and high schools for the advanced students, to be 
maintained for at least six months each year. They need closer 
supervision. But their supreme need is teachers, prepared and 
trained to carry on rural school work. To get teachers 
qualitatively and quantitatively adequate to meet present demands; 
to redirect and revitalize school activities; to idealize country life; 
to correlate home and farm economics with the common school stu- 
dies; to establish a social and intellectual center for the uplift of the 
whole community; to raise new standards of life and of living; to 
open the mind and the heart to the possibilities for success and hap- 
piness upon the farm; to make the farmer boy and girl feel that 
God's-out-of-doors is good and that the greatest good may come 
from it, — the accomplishment of these possibilities rests with the 
teacher. 

It does not seem advisable to start new schools foi the training of 
teachers in Iowa. The most economical method is to provide for our 
needs by the utilization of those agencies already established. This 
immediate and worthy agency is our high schools. In 1905 Super- 



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intendent Riggs advised such a plan with the recommendation 
that the professional studies be given after the completion of the 
fully accredited secondary course. State aid to one four year 
school in each county, capable of maintaining a high standard of 
teaching efficiency, properly equipped with apparatus, library facili 
ties and special teachers, in counties wherein no state educational 
institution already exists, would be money sp^nt at points where 
the largest returns for the investment would be realized. The 
whole course should be planned to meet the demands of rural educa- 
tion and the last year given to an intensive review of the common 
school studies with reference to methods of presentation, together 
with professional studies and training work. 



RECOMMENDATION 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL 

Your Committee recommends to the favorable consideration of 
your Legislative Committee the enactment of a law similar to 
those of our neighboring states, for the training of teachers thru 
the instrumentality of our high schools. 

E. R. Jackson Fred Mahannah 

Geo. H. Betts T. B. Morris 

Geo. D. Eaton Etta J. Rider 

S. L. Thomas W. S. Athearn 

John L. Tilton Lille Patton 

S. R. Fitz Clarence Messer 

L. Begeman H. E. Wheeler 

J. C. Glade L. C. Bryan 

C. E. Seashore M. A. Reed 

Kate R. Logan Arthur E. Bennett 

Chairman 



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Reprinted. 



NOV 18 1910 



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